


a rocky heart for breaking teeth

by reogulus



Series: take us down and all apart [1]
Category: Succession (TV 2018)
Genre: Canon-Typical Behavior, Dubious Consent, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Pre-Canon, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:54:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23062048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reogulus/pseuds/reogulus
Summary: “Fucking look at me,” Kendall’s breath hovered hotly over her ear, smelling of smoke and alcohol and recklessness. Every syllable came at her with a sharp, jagged angle.
Relationships: Kendall Roy/Siobhan "Shiv" Roy
Series: take us down and all apart [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1783504
Comments: 4
Kudos: 35





	a rocky heart for breaking teeth

What Kendall will remember of his summer in Shanghai is not so much the heat, but the stickiness. The never-drying sweat on the back of his neck that glued his skin to the collar, the meeting of clammy palms in every handshake. Time passed slowly everywhere: in traffic, on conference calls, during all the English-Mandarin conversations stitched together by interpreters who always looked exhausted.

Kendall was tired of all this bullshit by the second week, which was to say that Shanghai was at least twice as good as rehab. And the time difference was the perfect, guilt-free excuse to Facetime his kids once or twice a week instead of every other day. Rava refused to talk to him directly, still. When she did appear on camera to hand off the phone to the kids instead of leaving it to the nannies, she might smile but her eyes were dark with anger. He deserved that, and everything else too.

But Kendall was in Shanghai, their lawyers were in the trenches, dueling it out about the settlement agreement, and Dad was still acting like nothing happened. He happily went with the charade, ate the guilt for dessert whenever he felt any, chased it down with cocaine if he felt it necessary.

He wasn’t in contact with any of his siblings at the time in the summer. Roman was obsessed with making his mark in the film division, schmoozing with the studio execs; Connor never called him except for Thanksgiving and Christmas, anyway; and Shiv was a different story, as she was always bound to be.

Nate Sofrelli was never a close friend, but to Kendall he was the only real person in this foreign city. He was, apparently, Shiv’s flame at one point several years ago. DC, like any other city that mattered in the world, hosted only a very small population when trimmed down to the heart of what mattered. She was still green in the world of political consultancy, and Nate was there, a face familiar enough. They had a few good months, followed by a falling out of some sort, then Nate took up a contract in Shanghai just as Kendall found a reason to work here too.

It wasn’t supposed to be complicated; when your family name is a gold-standard currency of power, doing anything and everything out of convenience was only as natural as breathing. But Shiv didn’t take too kindly at all to seeing photos of him with Nate at events and galas in Shanghai.

“Jesus, Ken, it’s not worth it. Nate is _not_ worth it.” Shiv launched into a tirade as soon as Kendall picked up the FaceTime call. He was decked out in a full tux for a grand opening ceremony, she still in her dressing gown.

“I appreciate the concern, Siobhan,” he would have been amused to see his sister continuing to waste her time on something as inane as policing every single one of a man’s press photos, had the subject been anyone other than himself. “But that high horse and that double standard stopped being funny, like, five missed calls ago. It suited you fine in DC and it can’t suit me in Shanghai?”

“Truly, I would almost prefer you treat him like an escort—at least you wouldn’t be photographed together and I wouldn’t be subjected to any of it in my feed.”

“Easy,” Kendall tossed his head back and chuckled, loudly, because he knew it would only make her angrier. “I mean, if you’re not happy with the photos, fly over here and see it in real time so you can, you know, do something about it.”

There were no teeth to the “fuck off” she threw at him before ending the call, like she didn’t even want to try.

Nate Sofrelli was really good at ingratiating himself. That was the only way he could have gotten where he was; he didn’t grow up rich, after all.

There was a time when that was a novel thing in Shiv’s orbit, when everyone around her was trying so hard to appease her without making it look like appeasement. She’d expected it, carrying her family name to the world of politics; after all, she was playing the game of the same name, dropping hints about the sway of ATN’s programming without making any promises or pitches. But then Nate had a way of showing his hunger for her with what felt like honesty, which was novel enough for her at the time. And then she got bored, and Nate continued to wear his rep for being dumped by Shiv Roy as a badge of honor around town. It disgusted her, of course, but she knew better than not letting it go. There was never a shortage of rooms full of people trying to be happy, anywhere and any time.

Jess emailed her Kendall’s itinerary within minutes of her request. A few calls of booking and rescheduling later, Shiv had a mini excursion to Shanghai in her calendar. The timing couldn’t be worse, it was two weeks before her candidate’s biggest fundraiser dinner and she _should_ know better, but Kendall’s taunt on their video call was simply intolerable. _Do something about it_. Like they were kids in the schoolyard all over again, fighting over toys that neither of them really liked but couldn’t bear to see the other play with.

With Roman, the punches and insults never had to be directed at anything other than the person. With Kendall, she couldn’t imagine anything other than proxies. So goes the double standard.

She landed past midnight. The night sky was moonless, the air was unbearably hot and thick with pollutants; Shiv firmly pushed down any and all regret bubbling to the surface. The car dropped her off at Kendall’s penthouse, and just like that, it was past the point of no return.

What if she rang the doorbell and ran off, like that old ding dong prank? She wished she had a way of knowing for sure whether Nate was at Kendall’s place right now. Then she heard her brother’s loud, audible sigh from behind the door through the peephole, and her rage came back, just like that.

“Why?” The door swung open. Kendall had a drink in his hand, in his baggiest sweats.

She made a show of pulling up the calendar app on her phone. “You’re drunk and high and your calendar is set to remind you to FaceTime your kids in ten minutes.”

Kendall only nodded. The glassy look in his eyes was almost pliant, stepping aside to make way for her. “Good to see you too, sis, come on in.”

Shiv sat down on the couch. The truth was, she had more than twelve hours to think about what she was going to say and do here during her flight, but she still had no plans other than improvisation.

Kendall must have interpreted the vacant look on her face as some kind of shock that he wasn’t shocked to see her. “Jess told me you asked for my calendar, so.”

“Well, you told me to fly over and do something about it, so.” Shiv crossed her thighs and folded her hands over her knees, sizing up her brother like Kendall was just the next candidate trying to get her on his campaign. “Where’s Nate?”

Kendall drained his drink, then plopped down on the couch next to her, bare foot grazing over her ankle. “He’s supposed to get me something for tomorrow. Don’t know about tonight, don’t have a leash on him.”

Shiv’s laugh came out with a snort; she actually couldn’t help it, after noticing the streaks of white powder on the glass surface of the coffee table. Four years at Georgetown, eight years studying Mandarin, two internships at the State Department, and that bastard still couldn’t resist slinging drugs for Kendall Roy.

“Is this how you are leveraging his Mandarin language skills to your advantage?”

“I know you used to have him eating out of your hand and your cunt, but I only have one not the other,” Kendall shrugged.

Shiv tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, let the silence fall between them. As expected, his phone buzzed with the calendar reminder they both knew would be a write-off. Kendall didn’t so much as glance at his phone, his gaze continued to fix on her. Shiv took a deep breath, looking out to the skyline brimming with neon lights.

“Come home, Ken. Work things out with Rava, you know that door is not shut forever. Why are you still fucking around? Dad’s never gonna hand you the keys if you keep this up.”

“Uh-huh,” with that non-answer, she felt his weight shifting on the couch, inching closer to her. Then his palm was on her shoulder, close to the nape of her neck. As if on command, a shiver went down her spine, visible through the thin cotton of her shirt.

“Fucking look at me,” Kendall’s breath hovered hotly over her ear, smelling of smoke and alcohol and recklessness. Every syllable came at her with a sharp, jagged angle.

It took all the effort in her body to keep her shoulders still, as she turned towards him. She locked eyes with him almost as soon as she broke away her gaze, leaning into the nape of his neck, as if they were locked in an embrace. Then she whispered, again: “come home.”

“Uh-huh,” Kendall said, again, pushing her away slightly so that their foreheads were almost touching. Without another word, he kissed her on the corner of her mouth, but not before she tilted her head in that millisecond, enough to catch his top lip between her teeth.

Tasting his sister on his lips almost made Kendall snap out of it. But his heartbeat was already pumping with the drugs coursing in his veins, so what’s Shiv’s excuse?

Maybe this was just exactly how far Shiv would go, to fling herself out of the corner so he wouldn’t press her to admit she missed him. Their family is the kind to stop at barely any limits to prove a point, and _this_ certainly makes a statement.

Kendall was about to pull away, maybe go to the fridge to get Shiv a drink. But her fingers were hooked in the waistband of his sweatpants, and they felt surprisingly cold on his hip.

“Stay,” she commanded with ease, keeping him in place. She broke off the kiss but her hand hovered over his crotch, the other hand tugging at his sweatpants and boxer briefs. Every motion was a clear gesture to indicate that there was no room for questions. After all, Shiv was always the one most like their father in temper, all snap decisions and impulses, every scheme and calculation a learned habit only. But the thought only made Kendall more eager to go along.

She pushed him down on the couch and straddled him, and her skirt only made this too easy. He reached over, more gingerly than he thought he would, and felt the wetness soaking through the smooth bit of fabric between her thighs. She reciprocated by stroking his rising erection. Moans caught in both of their throats; there was no one around but they fought to keep quiet, as if some effort of tacit collusion to convince somebody that this was not what it looked like.

Shiv let herself fall back on the sofa arm, temporarily freeing Kendall from under her so they could both make quick work of their bottom garments. When he kicked off his pants and underwear to glance at the thin, trimmed, rust-colored fuzz of her crotch. The sight of it damn near broke him, in equal parts arousal and fear, both utterly unspeakable.

Shiv must have seen Kendall’s jaw hang open, even only slightly. She straddled his hips and pinned him down again, reaching her palm over to cover his mouth. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, at which point, she started stroking him with her fist. The frantic pace, the air stuck in his lungs; it all felt too much like drowning, and Kendall couldn’t move any of his limbs.

“Don’t come don’t come don’t come,” Shiv’s words spat out like rapid fire as she panted above him. She put his hand over his cock, ran her tongue over her fingers and reached down into herself. Even in the dimmed living room light, Kendall could see the glistening pink flesh inside her. Shiv arched her back and worked herself open, the other hand propped behind herself for support.

Kendall’s cock, now fully erect, lay flat and heavy against his lower abdomen. The pressure was getting so much worse and was about to pump into his own fist, but Shiv grabbed both of his arms and pushed them over his head.

“Hands behind the back of your head, _now_ ,” Shiv’s chest heave with want, she was fully dressed from the waist up but what was exposed of her chest and neck were flushed, pink all over. He wasn’t a total stranger to the sense of urgency in her voice at that moment, but he’d only known it to be thick with white hot rage. But now, it was thickened with something that burned much more. He could only comply.

After she got his hands where she wanted them, she spread herself open with a focus of unmatched intensity, like she knew what she was going to do today for longer than he’d been a self-destructive junkie disaster. Like she was putting the final piece of the Lego in place, which was always her favorite part when they played as kids.

She was dripping all over him, the friction becoming unbearable. Staring at the ceiling, he had to let out a long exhale. And then, Shiv started moving her hips, rubbing her labia along the length of his cock. When her clit ground against the tip of his dick, she’d finally thrown her head back to let out a moan. Both of her hands were propped behind her body now, pressing down on his thighs and pushing them apart as her hips moved faster. It wasn’t long before she came with a shiver sent down her entire body.

Kendall kept his hands behind his head until his arms were falling asleep, and he could not keep up in his head how many times Shiv came on him before she stroked him to completion, still pressing down on his cock with her wet cunt. He couldn’t remember what happened next.

When Kendall came to, it was 3am and the living room was in darkness. He was still naked on the couch from the waist down, cum spattered on his skin, almost drying. His pubic hair was tangled, dampened by her.

He managed to get off the couch and get into the shower, but not before he grabbed his phone to text Jess about booking him a flight back to New York next week. He just needed to come up with an excuse later.

When the water washed it all away, it might as well have been a dream.

“Fucking look at me,” years later, after he’d done truly irreversible things, she said to him in Dad’s office after dark, when nobody else was around.

Kendall did, he looked up and held her gaze but there was nothing he could do. Like the night in Shanghai which they’d never spoken of since, at the very core of him, there was a part that could never break through, that could only ever watch it happen.

“Come here,” he could only say, “give me a hug.”

**Author's Note:**

> Inspiration hit and I really wanted to write Shiv/Ken incestuous outercourse! I grafted the porny bits onto a pre-canon Kendall in Shanghai draft that I didn't know what to do with, so here we are. I didn't put that much thought into the character voices in this one, hopefully everything still came together and could hold water, somewhat.
> 
> Title is from "Peach Pit" by Peach Pit.


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